It's good to keep it above 100. My Hematologist has just ordered an infusion, even though ferritin is at 125. All my other numbers are low and TIBC continues to rise.
My Hematologist says that if all my other numbers are ok, we won't infuse until ferritin drops below 50.

hi my ferriten went from 12 to 32 in 7 months after taking iron tabs,my doc says i am fine now and i can stop taking the iron if i wont to,i told hert hat i was taking iron due to heavy periods,and my hair is still falling out,she said to drop the tabs from two to one a day,why do she think ferriten is ok at 32,i have a long way to go to 100,what should i do

Ticker- I have a ferritin level of 38 and low range rbc, hemoglobin and hematocrit. So far my dr. has advised ferrous sulfate one time a day. I am taking slow fe.

With a ferritin of 50, how is it that you were diagnosed anemic. Was it the rbc, hgb or hct or all three? What iron are you taking 3 times a day ?

I am really hoping to get my ferritin up so I can stop with the iron supplements. The iron supplement is limiting my absorption of thyroid hormone and has caused me to go to a higher dose. The higher dose is not good , I am having alot of negative effects.

I am trying to find out what is the best way to get the ferritin up and soon. Doing research before I go back to the dr.

Moomin - I agree with you about the ferritin level being confusing. My dr. is concerned with mine at 38 and so I am supplementing.I also have low rbc, hgb and hct. The dr. didn't say and I failed to ask what ferritin number is the goal.

Moommin......A lot of doctors simply don't understand the connection between hair shedding and ferritin levels. If my gp had had enough knowledge i could have been advised to take iron supplements 6 years ago and wouldn't be in as drastic a situation as i am now.

I told my specialist the other day how there is a lot of confusion on the net regarding all of this and how some doctors are telling their patients to stop taking supplements and their ferritin is only in the 20's or 30's.

He says most definitely to NOT stop taking supplements until you are over 70 at least and your ferritin levels are staying put. He also says that doctors should be advising their patients on what type of supplement to take and ideally the supplement should be a minimum of 80mg per day.

Hi littlebunnyfoo and osteoblast, yes my specialist is a Trichologist and they specialise in scalp and hair conditions. I read an article in a newspaper how if you are shedding hair then you can visit your gp or a dermatologist or a trichologist.

My gp was of no help, he didn't even notice that my ferritin levels were so low. I visited a dermatologist and she was hopeless too and said it was only stress and that my hair looked healthy and it would grow back.

After finding out a year ago that i was anaemic and after reading info on this board i put 1 and 1 together. I felt i needed to find a specialist in this field as gp's would only mess me about.

I then did a HEAP of research and knew what questions i wanted to ask of a potential specialist. I didn't want someone taking my money and wasting my time, i wanted them to have at least as much knowledge as this healthboard has and wanted them to genuinly understand what this all meant to me.

I then did a search for Trichologists in my city and found a few, then it was a case of process of elimination, making phone calls, testing them with a few trick questions.

I'm happy with the one i chose and my ferritin went up from 8 to 29, but then dropped down to 26 in my last blood test. He has told me that he will only have me on the iron supplements for another 3 months, then he'll pass me onto someone else if my iron hasn't move upwards by then. He feels we need to find out what is causing my body to not absorb the supplements as i'm trying so hard to eat and drink things which will work with the supplements and not go against it.

The iron supplement he gives me is not one you can buy over the counter. It has the ferritin in it, plus non acidic vitamin C, calcium pantothenate, trimethyglycine (whatever that is), plus i take a complex amino tablet two times per day to help absorb things better.

He said not to pay attention to the bit where it says "iron" and that that fluctuates up and down all day long, depending what you ate or drank. The one to look at was ferritin. I think he said one other one was important, but i can't remember if it was "transferrin" or "transfer. s".

He didn't only test my iron levels, but my liver function, magnesium, folate, FULL thyroid and i mean FULL, vitamin D, zinc, copper, hormones. The pathology people thought the thyroid was ok b/c it was "within the range", but he disagreed saying that i was too low in certain figures for him to be happy with my results. Basically the low ferritin is what's thrown my thyroid out, but it's all fixable if only the ferritin would go UP.

The weird thing is, there are people out there who are in the same situation as me, but have not been losing hair. Instead they might have very bad finger nails or some other problem, so it just goes to show we are all individual. When there is too much prolongued hair shedding he agreed that you need to be over 70 at least for 3 to 6 months but he would like to see women reach 125 just incase you end up sliding back down. As for taking 80mg a day, he said people shouldn't just be going off to the chemist and buying whatever and taking whatever dosage. When taking high dosages you should speak to a doctor or a chemist as there are different types of iron and they can have varying side effects. There was an over the counter one i was taking and i followed the instructions, but he said i could easily triple the dosage.

The one other thing he mentioned is keeping my metablic rate burning and for me to do a bit of regular exercise. I guess this helps with the thyroid situation.

If you wish to read articles he has written you can do a search under his name Tony Pearce Trichologist.